Stock Market Basics: Start Here

A share of stock is a slice of a real company, and almost everything else in investing builds on that one idea. These eight guides cover the foundations: what you actually own when you buy a share, how a price gets set between buyers and sellers, when the US market is open and what happens outside those hours, how companies are sorted into sectors, what bull and bear markets mean, why a company splits its shares, and how index funds and ETFs let you own hundreds of companies at once.

Start anywhere. If a term stops you, the stock market glossary has a plain-English definition - market capitalization is a good first one, because it explains why a $200 share price tells you almost nothing about how big a company is.

Everything here can be practiced in CustomStocks with a virtual balance and real market prices. It is an educational simulator, not a brokerage, and nothing on this site is financial advice.